cruizinallthetime, you can do it either way. You can do the train up and back or bus it on one leg. I'm not sure the price is any different, but with the bus, you take the risk of the bus being late (granted its a small risk) But in May there will still be lots of snow up there and you may have bus issues.

You can also take the train up to the pass and get off and have lunch/dinner and then come back.

Are you all talking about doing the train and/or bus independently or through a ship's excursion?

I'm looking at HAL's excursion options for my summer 2008 cruise and there are a variety of choices--round trip train (where you don't get off), WPR and goldcamp (train up, bus down), and an 8-hour Yukon trip (bus up, train down). At this point, we're leaning toward the Yukon excursion and will do it through the cruise line due to its length. But, as we will be the only ship in Skagway, I'm wondering about doing a WPR trip on our own. (Or at least conveying this information to our traveling companions who don't want an all-day excursion.)

We took the train ride in May...they had to take the snowblower up to the summit before we could take the train...8 feet of snow at the top...so you will SEE ALL THE SNOW YOU WANT...Being from Minnesota snow isn't something I usually go to see, but it was wonderful on the mountain top:-)....Have a great time....

Originally posted by kwtraveler:
My wife and our two teenagers just went to Alaska on Serenade of the Seas this past June. At Skagway we did a little shopping in the morning and then we took the 12 o'clock train ride and it was excellent. We rode the train up and took a bus back down to Lairsville where we drank hot cider, had cookies, watched a comedy show and panned for gold. The gold panning wasn't what we thought it would be, but overall we enjoyed the excursion. The ride back is the same route so you might get a little bored if you take it back too. On the way up, sit on left side of the train so you can get the best views and make sure to go outside on the rails between the trains. I don't know your itinerary, but we went to Hubbard Glaciers, which was beautiful, then Sitka, which was small and not much to see, then Skagway, and our last port was Juneau. Take the tram to Mount Roberts and also go see the glaciers there if you have time. We didn't pay to go whale wathcing because we had a balcony cabin and saw a lot of whales and seals from the ship. Have fun.

kwtraveler~could you please PM me? I would love to talk to you more. We are booked for Serenade of the Seas in June 2008 and would love to get more info from you on your cruise. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks! Pam